STAT List: These 10 cities had the biggest jumps in hospital jobs

The health care industry has been a main driver of employment gains since the Great Recession, with hospitals in particular fueling job creation around the country.

The jobs have been a boon to communities, and the competition is so fierce to fill open spots that hospitals have had to get creative. But there’s a risk, too: If the country ever actually tries to control health care costs, it won’t be able to support as many jobs in the industry.

The list below identifies the 10 biggest percentage gains in the number of hospital employees among the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, from July 2007 to July 2017. It relies on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Data from every metropolitan area was not available.)

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Many of the biggest jumps came in mid-size metropolitan areas, but even places like Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas saw an increase of about a third in the number of people working in hospitals.

78 percent: New Orleans

Part of the bump in New Orleans could be explained by the fact that the city’s population was still rebounding in 2007 after Hurricane Katrina. But still, in July 2007, 14,400 people worked in hospitals in the metro area, compared to 25,700 in July 2017.